Church wrangles lock expectant mothers from healthcare

At least 10 expectant mothers were left stranded outside the gate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Africa Mission in Juba on Friday after the facility, which encompasses a healthcare centre, was closed amid fierce wrangles.

Four out of the 10 women delivered outside as the police closed the gate of the church that contains a health facility.

The church, which was officially opened by President Salva Kiir in 2017, is located at Hai Referendum in Munuki. It provides several services, including health empowerment for women, and about 100 women have received tailoring training from the centre.

The health centre also provided free fistula operations to more than 107 women after being transported from different states by the church leadership.

The church was closed by court order after a former Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Africa Mission in South Sudan, Mawien Koul Ariik, opened a case against the management of the church, purporting that the church still belonged to his leadership.

According to the letter seen by The City Review, Bishop Svennungsen of the Minneapolis Area Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America relieved the former pastor, Mawien, on February 23, 2021, and had his name (Mawien) removed from serving the church members in the country.

The letter shows that former pastor Mawien could go to the church as an ordinary person for prayers because he was defrocked by church titles.

A senior pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for Africa Mission in South Sudan, Augustine Martine, told this newspaper on Wednesday in Kator that the police on Friday went and closed the gate of the church compound.

He said within the compound there is a health facility, a training facility that is conducting training for more than 100 people including expectant mothers.

“We don’t know what is happening because Mawien has taken the church to court and on Friday the police came and closed all the houses within the church premise, including the health centre. As I talk now, more than four women delivered at the gate because they could not access the facility,” Pastor Martin said.

Closure of premises                                 

“What we want is the opening of the church so that these women and other people are allowed to get free medical services. We need the government to intervene as we are following the cases in court,” he added.

Pastor Martin revealed that the police closed the gate of the church and all the buildings after they got the order through Mawien’s lawyer.

“The health facilities are helping hundreds of communities in entire South Sudan. Where is Mr Mawien going to take it for his own benefit alone? Where are these communities going to get such services?” “Martin said.

He revealed that over 8,000 people were benefiting from the services provided by the church because it was funded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

“We have been referred back to the high court because the judge of the public court order, told our lawyer that he could not handle the case,” Martin explained.

The lawyer for the church, Choul Deng, appealed for the reopening of the church and the health care facility while the court hearing continues.

“I am waiting for their call because the documents in the court case were referred back for a second time to the high court,” he said.

When contacted, Mawien Ariik, who is the plaintiff, said his leadership and church have been hijacked by some of the church leaders, including the Catholic and ECSS after he left for America.

Mawien denied the allegation that he had resigned from the church, adding that he only resigned from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and not the Evangelical Lutheran Church Africa Mission in South Sudan, where he said he is still the president.

“I resigned from the American Church because I wanted to come and work in South Sudan. We have about seven branches of the church across the nation,” Mawien said.

He added that his church was founded in 2012 as the local church in South Sudan, and he was the one who invited President Salva Kiir to come and open it officially.

 Mawien revealed that the Bureau of Religious Affairs in the Office of the President tried to mediate between him and the religious leaders who had hijacked the church, but their attempts were futile.

“We have opened a case against Angelina Michael and the team because she is the one who had the power as administrator to change our names. The court ordered the closure, including the primary health care within the premise,” he said.

“Patients can go to other healthcare [centres] because the closure of the health facility cannot affect people around us,” Mawien stressed.

He said it is now for the court to order the reopening of the church and healthcare facility.

According to Mawien, Zion Church was the one sent to him in 2012 in South Sudan, and in 2014 the church (Zion) agreed with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and they established what they now call the Evangelical Lutheran Church Africa Mission in South Sudan.

However, on Wednesday, the Judge of the Public Court in Kator, Peter Mustafa Karijo, said he could not proceed with the court hearing and judgment due to what he called a misunderstanding between the lawyers for the church and the plaintiff.

Karijo referred the case back to the high court.